Newsletter Subscription

Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

The federal government will decide in early fall whether to pay for brain scans in people with suspected Alzheimer's disease…"As a neurologist who sees patients, I certainly would like to have the information provided by amyloid PET scans," said Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, in Rochester, Minn.

Circulation:USA TODAYhas a circulation of 1.8 million and a readership of 3.1 million. USA TODAY websites have 26.3 million unique visitors a month.

Context:Ron Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., is the Cora Kanow Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease Research at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Petersen is regularly sought out by reporters as a leading expert in his medical field. Dr. Petersen chairs the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services.

Former President George W. Bush’s decision to allow doctors to use a stent to clear a blocked heart artery, performed absent symptoms, is reviving a national debate on the best way to treat early cardiac concerns… Stents are lifesaving when patients are in the midst of a heart attack, said Chet Rihal, an interventional cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who has studied use of the devices. They allow immediate and sustained blood flow that help a patient recover, he said.

Circulation: Bloomberg has 2,300 media professionals in 146 bureaus across 72 countries. Bloomberg delivers its content across more than 400 publications, over 310 million households worldwide through Bloomberg Television and 500,000 in the New York metro area and 18.5 million subscribers through satellite radio.

Context:Charanjit, "Chet" Rihal, M.D., chair, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, is the William S. and Ann Atherton Professor of Cardiology Honoring Robert L. Frye, M.D. As a cardiologist, Dr. Rihal specializes in interventional cardiology with a focus on new device therapies, the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), and structural heart disease. One area of expertise is replacing heart valves by catheterization through the arteries, avoiding chest surgery. Dr. Rihal applies clinical research techniques to answer questions about cardiovascular disease and improve patient safety. For example, each year, hundreds of thousands of X-rays are performed across the country to help detect and treat common cardiovascular conditions, but radiation can be harmful. In 2012, Dr. Rihal and his colleagues found a way to cut overall radiation exposure to these patients by nearly half using simple but effective methods.

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have decoded the cause of inflammation-driven pancreatic cancer and potential solutions to reverse the process. The study was published in The Journal of Cell Biology Monday, and it shows how inflammation pushes acinar cells in the pancreas — those that produce digestive enzymes — to transform into duct-like cells. As these cells change, they can acquire mutations that can result in further progression to pancreatic cancer. Dr. Peter Storz, a biochemist and molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus in Jacksonville, was a senior author on the study.

Mayo Clinic researchers in Florida say they've identified how chronic inflammation of the pancreas reprograms some cells and makes them more susceptible to cancerous mutations. Some white blood cells that respond to the inflammation drive the transformation of the damaged cells, rather than fix the problem, said Peter Storz, a Mayo biochemist and lead author of the study. "This process is believed to be an initial step leading to pancreatic cancer."

The study, published online in The Journal of Cell Biology, maps how inflammation pushes acinar cells in the pancreas — those that produce digestive enzymes — to transform into duct-like cells. As these cells change, they can acquire mutations that can result in further progression to pancreatic cancer, says senior author Peter Storz, Ph.D., a biochemist and molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic.

Patients sometimes think that after heart surgery they are no longer at risk. "People are not cured after surgery, and there is still considerable prevention to do," says Randal Thomas, a preventive cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Dr. Thomas is co-author of a study that found rehabilitation attendance was associated with a 46% reduction in the 10-year risk of death from all causes, regardless of a patient's age. The study, of coronary bypass patients at Mayo, was published in the July issue of the journal Circulation.

Circulation: The Wall Street Journal, a US-based newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, is tops in newspaper circulation in America with an average circulation of 2 million copies on weekdays.

Context:Randal Thomas, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic cardiologist. This study, "Participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation and Survival After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery," appeared in the July issue of Circulation.

Political reporter Mary Lahammer talked with Cathy and Eric about her personal struggle with a disease that disproportionately affects Minnesota woman.

Reach: Based in St. Paul, Minnesota,tpt is one of the highest-rated PBS affiliates in the nation, reaching over 1.3 million people each month through multiple broadcast and online channels.

Additional Coverage:Star TribuneMary Lahammer on living with multiple sclerosis

Keeping secrets isn’t easy for a born-and-bred journalist like TPT’s Mary Lahammer. That’s one reason she’s both relieved and eager to share news that she’s kept within a small circle for two years: She has multiple sclerosis, or MS.

Another reason has to do with the response she’s received from some of us in that circle who are old enough to remember when MS was a sure crippler and a death sentence.

It isn’t any longer, Lahammer says.

Don’t chalk up that assurance to an athlete’s determination or a young mother’s resolve, though at a vigorous age 39, she has both. Rather, I heard a journalist’s summation of two years of in-depth reporting among world-leading MS experts at Rochester’s Mayo Clinic, where she is a patient.

Circulation: The Star Tribune Sunday circulation is 518,745 copies and weekday circulation is 300,277. The Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper and ranks 16th nationally in circulation.

MS is a disease in which the immune system, which normally protects your body, instead attacks the covering (myelin sheath) surrounding the nerves in your brain and spinal cord. These nerves send information from your brain and spinal cord to other nerves in your body, and myelin helps make this transmission efficient.

Attacks of multiple sclerosis lead to inflammation and injury to the myelin sheath, resulting in slowed or blocked nerve signals, which can lead to difficulty controlling vision, muscle coordination, strength, sensation and other bodily functions.

Multiple sclerosis can affect people of any age, although symptoms most commonly occur in people 20 to 40 years old. Women are twice as likely to develop MS as are men.

To subscribe:Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

To unsubscribe: To remove your name from the global distribution list, send an email to Emily Blahnik with the subject: UNSUBSCRIBE from Mayo Clinic in the News.

Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

On Friday, students at Maynard High School in Maynard, Mass. made good on an important promise: no tanning before this year's prom. Many of the students signed a pledge in February that they would skip the tanning bed and sunbathing before prom this year in an effort to reduce their risk of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer… In April, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that rates of melanoma increased by a factor of more than six from 1970 to 2009, and the rates were highest among young women.

Close to one in three people in the United States may sleepwalk during their lives, according to a U.S. study that said severe depression and other sleep disorders may increase the possibility…"I'm not too surprised by the results," said Timothy Young, a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist with the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Young, who was not involved in the research, said that sleepwalking is thought to be common during childhood, but tapers off as people get older. Past studies have shown that 30 percent of children may be sleepwalkers, the researchers wrote.

Context: Mayo Clinic Health System neurologist and sleep medicine specialist Timothy Young, M.D., discussed the new study published in the journal Neurology. Dr. Young practices at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire.

Don't Cheat, Can't Delete. Don't Steal, Don't Reveal. This is the social media policy of Farris Timimi, M.D., medical director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. It appears the Mayo Clinic can cure more than just health problems. This is a brilliant policy that you should adopt, regardless of your company's own approach to handling social media. (And far too few companies have coherent policies, anyway.)

Reach:CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, reaches more than 250 million people at its web properties each month.

Medicine's focus has long been on treating specific diseases. We have radiation treatments to combat cancer tumors, cholesterol-lowering drugs to stave off heart attacks, and insulin to control diabetes… In a discovery that Science magazine hailed as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of 2011, researchers from the Mayo Clinic published results showing they could markedly delay the onset of age-related diseases in mice by killing off the rodents' senescent cells…”We're not there yet, but we're getting closer to doing clinical trials on people,” says James Kirkland, director of the Mayo Clinic's Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging and one of the scientists involved in the study. “There's so much promise.”

Reach: US News reaches more than 10 million unique visitors to its website each month.

Context:The Mayo Clinic Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging is an innovative center where education, research, and practice come together to improve the quality of life from birth to end of life. The goal of the center is to discover ways to delay the onset of age-related diseases and disabilities and, if they do occur, to find ways to make them more manageable. Information about the research of James Kirkland, Ph.D., director, can be found here.

Meet the women of the inaugural SCAD Survivors Reunion, a determined group whose lives were jolted and nearly ended by a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection. SCAD is an uncommon and unstudied condition once thought incredibly rare. SCAD attacks occur when one or more of the main arteries to the heart dissect, or tear, causing internal bleeding, blood clots, heart attacks and often death…But in just a few years the SCAD ladies have accomplished what most people with rare conditions never do. They successfully enlisted a research physician from the renowned Mayo Clinic to conduct a pilot study of their members. Now cardiologist Sharonne Hayes and her Mayo Clinic colleagues are studying SCAD survivors in a clinical trial to learn more about the condition.

Reach:Chicago Sun-Times reaches 4.5 million people through its print and online vehicles.

Context:Sharonne Hayes, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and founder of Mayo's Women's Heart Clinic. Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (or SCAD), is a rare, life-threatening heart condition. Mayo Clinic used social media to reach out to survivors of SCAD, a poorly understood heart condition that affects just a few thousand Americans every year.

It’s easy to forget to re-charge our cell phones, or iPads, but what if your life relied on a battery? For one patient at the Mayo Clinic, his lifeline is a plastic, rechargeable heart. Alvin Carter carries around this backpack at all times…Carter was diagnosed with a disease called amyloidosis two months ago, a condition that damages the heart through protein build-up. “It just sort of fractured as we cut across it,” said Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Surgeon Dr. Lyle Joyce. “It was just crunchy.”

Reach:WCCO 4 News is the most-watched newscast in the Twin Cities, in 5 out of 7 newscasts. WCCO 4 News is #1 in 5 out of the 7 newscasts for all viewers in the 25-54 age range and WCCO 4 News is #1 in 7 out of 7 newscasts for female viewers in the 25-54 age range.

Context:Lyle Joyce, M.D., Ph.D., is a Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeon. One of his primary areas of research includes the development and clinical testing of various types of cardiac assist devices as a bridge to transplant and destination therapy.

Two young Minnesota sisters share a very special gift: two successful heart transplant surgeries. For their mother, Linsey Rippy, this Mother’s Day is about routine rather than recognition. “You just deal with it. What more could I have done? You just take it as it comes,” said mother Rippy, whose 3-year-old daughter, Sydney, is still recovering. To say the least, few months have been tough on the Rippy family is an understatement. In October, Sydney was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart.

Reach:WCCO 4 News is the most-watched newscast in the Twin Cities, in 5 out of 7 newscasts. WCCO 4 News is #1 in 5 out of the 7 newscasts for all viewers in the 25-54 age range and WCCO 4 News is #1 in 7 out of 7 newscasts for female viewers in the 25-54 age range.

Context: This is a great heart-warming Mayo Clinic story on Mother’s Day about two sisters who had successful heart transplant surgeries.

Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is on the rise in Minnesota. It hasn't reached the point of an official "outbreak" yet, but health providers are asking parents to take steps to immunize themselves and their children. "I do not want to wait until the outbreak is full blown before taking action," Dr. Thomas Boyce, a Mayo Clinic specialist in pediatric infectious diseases told KARE.

Reach:KARE has won the demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years-old in almost every Nielsen ratings sweeps period since the late 1980s, while placing second overall in households at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. since May 2006, trailing rival CBS affiliate WCCO.

More than 5 million Americans are thought to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and now the federal government has set a new deadline to tackle the brain-wasting affliction. The National Alzheimer's Plan set a goal of finding new treatments, prevention and new training for doctors by 2025. Dr. Ronald Peterson is director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and he's also chair of the advisory council that wrote the new national plan. Peterson acknowledged that the 13-year deadline may seem short for an affliction that, at least for now, has no proven treatment.

Reach:Minnesota Public Radio operates 43 stations and serves virtually all of Minnesota and parts of the surrounding states. MPR has more than 100,000 members and more than 900,000 listeners each week, which is the largest audience of any regional public radio network.

Context: Mayo Clinic issued a media alert May 14 on Alzheimer's Disease expert Ronald Petersen, M.D. who is participating in the release of an ambitious national plan to address Alzheimer's disease.

A Mayo Clinic research team is back in Minnesota after a study on Mount Everest. After leaving Minnesota in mid-April to stay at an Everest base camp, the six-member team returned over the weekend to Rochester. Mayo Clinic researcher Bryan Taylor says the extreme altitude on Mount Everest is similar to the conditions experienced by patients suffering from heart disease. “Ultimately if we can really identify those parameters, for example, let's say someone who had the most disruption of their sleep ended up having the greatest symptoms of altitude sickness, and we can somehow relate that back to say heart failure situation, then perhaps we can predict adverse events,” Taylor said.

Reach:Minnesota Public Radio operates 43 stations and serves virtually all of Minnesota and parts of the surrounding states. MPR has more than 100,000 members and more than 900,000 listeners each week, which is the largest audience of any regional public radio network.

But a whooping cough outbreak in Washington State -- as well as alarming increases in whooping cough in Minnesota and Wisconsin -- serve as sobering reminders that some of these pathogens still lurk in everyday places and are capable of causing serious illness… ACTION NEEDED "Until we do better vaccinating adolescents and adults, this will repeatedly play out state after state.'' -The Mayo Clinic's Dr. ROBERT JACOBSON, on the pertussis epidemic in Washington state

Circulation: The Star Tribune Sunday circulation is 514,457 copies and weekday circulation is 300,330. The Star Tribune is the state’s largest newspaper and ranks 16th nationally in circulation

Post-Bulletin
Co-owner of Major League Baseball team joins Mayo Clinic trusteesby Ken Hanson

Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees on Friday received Denver construction tycoon and Major League Baseball team owner Linda Alvarado as a new member. Alvarado, president and CEO of Denver-based Alvarado Construction Inc., became in 1992 the first Hispanic owner of a Major League Baseball franchise, the Colorado Rockies. She currently is co-owner of the team.

The Mayo Clinic has always been on top of the latest technology and Tuesday was no exception. The clinic launched its mobile app Tuesday morning. Mark Henderson of Mayo Clinic says the app looks to put patient care at the tip of your fingers. "This app was really something our patients asked for." The app, only available for iPhones and iPods, focuses on all aspects of the patient's needs. "Many of the patients all have mobile devices, and if they've never been here they found the campus large and difficult to navigate," said Henderson.

Reach:KAAL is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting Inc., which owns all ABC Affiliates in Minnesota including KSTP in Minneapolis-St. Paul and WDIO in Duluth. KAAL, which operates from Austin, also has ABC satellite stations in Alexandria and Redwood Falls. KAAL serves Southeast Minnesota and Northeast Iowa.

Context: Mayo Clinic distributed a news release May 15 about its new mobile health application.

For more coverage of Mayo Clinic in the News, please link to our news clip blog here.

To subscribe: Mayo Clinic in the News is a weekly highlights summary of major media coverage. If you would like to be added to the weekly distribution list, send a note to Emily Blahnik with this subject line: SUBSCRIBE to Mayo Clinic in the News.

To unsubscribe: To remove your name from the global distribution list, send an email to Emily Blahnik with the subject: UNSUBSCRIBE from Mayo Clinic in the News.

More than 5 million Americans are thought to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and now the federal government has set a new deadline to tackle the brain-wasting affliction. The National Alzheimer's Plan set a goal of finding new treatments, prevention and new training for doctors by 2025. Dr. Ronald Peterson is director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and he's also chair of the advisory council that wrote the new national plan. Peterson acknowledged that the 13-year deadline may seem short for an affliction that, at least for now, has no proven treatment.

Your brain's capacity for information is a reliable predictor of Alzheimer's disease and can be cheaply and easily tested, according to scientists.

"We have developed a low-cost behavioral assessment that can clue someone in to Alzheimer's disease at its earliest stage," said Michael Wenger, associate professor of psychology at Penn State. "MRIs can cost hundreds of dollars an hour," Wenger said.

"We created a much cheaper alternative, based on a memory test, that correlates with hippocampal degradation." Wenger and his collaborators at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn., detail their findings in the current issue of the Journal of Mathematical Psychology…

Wenger worked with Selamawit Negash, neurology research fellow, Ronald C. Peterson, professor of neurology, and Lyndsay Peterson, research associate, all at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.